WIAW: Experiment Over

Mine has been rather good, actually. If you read my post yesterday, you’ll know that I have been suffering from crazy environmental allergies lately. I kid you not, on Monday I sneezed 59 times. I counted them because I wanted to share my suffering with you all. 😉 But really, that was nothing compared to last Friday. I finally got some relief yesterday, and it’s either because we had a huge rainstorm, or because of these enzymes I’ve started taking at my mom’s suggestion. They’re called Antronex, and basically, they’re taken to support the liver and help the body’s natural antihistamine function. (By the way, if you’re vegan or vegetarian, please don’t go to that link. I’ll just say the enzymes are definitely not solely plant-based.) Whatever the reason, I’m glad I’ve finally stopped sneezing, and that in of itself is big enough to make my week good. 😉

Ok, so you might be wondering about the title of this post. Well, if you’ve been reading for the past few weeks, you’ll know that I was giving a gluten-free diet a try. My reasons for trying this were 1) to raise my awareness of what people with intolerances and Celiac disease have to go through, 2) the fact that wheat today is so genetically modified and full of nasty chemicals that it’s not really good for us any more, 3) I thought maybe getting rid of gluten (a key ingredient in so many of the foods I mindlessly snack on) would help me lose the weight I can’t shed, and 4) I wondered if maybe I was allergic to it.

So with those reasons in mind, and with the support of my parents, I decided to go ahead and give GF a try. For the first two weeks, I felt fine. Which, actually, was not how I was hoping I’d feel. I had hoped I would feel different, better. However, my acid reflux was still very present and I wasn’t losing any weight. In fact, I was gaining weight. I didn’t mention that on here because I thought it had nothing to do with being GF (and who knows, maybe it doesn’t), but it was definitely something I was noticing.

During the middle of the third week, I started to feel not great. I often have digestive issues that come and go, but the issues I was beginning to experience (think awful, awful bloating) were not going. I just did not feel like myself, and I was very uncomfortable. After talking with my mom about that, and hearing that she was feeling the same way, we decided to go back to our “old” diets. The only thing I can figure was going on was that my body not only does not need to be GF, it didn’t want to be. I’m absolutely positively an advocate of going with your gut feeling, and in this case, literally and figuratively, I needed to.

Sure enough, on Friday I went back to my old routine and instantly felt better. Now, my old routine/diet was really not too loaded with gluten/wheat, and just because I really want to focus on getting healthier and losing what I’ll call my “snacking” weight, I still have not allowed myself to eat crackers (those babies are my arch nemesis). But I am incorporating more fiber in the form of whole wheat bread back in, because I’m learning that’s what my body was missing.

Anyway (if you’ve stuck through reading all of this, thank you), the reason I’m going into such a deep explanation is because I want to be honest with you all, as you were all so sweet and supportive of my diet change. So, that’s the story and the explanation of why I’ve decided to end my experiment. 🙂

This WIAW is going to be iPhone/Instagram edition…with just a few real, “good” photos thrown in. Please bear with me. 🙂

Breakfasts

We bought a huge pack of Chobani from Costco, and for one breakfast, I enjoyed a blueberry Chobani with my homemade granola mixed in. Oh my GOSH was that good.

Lunches

I actually really haven’t been eating lunches lately. I’ve been sleeping in (well, until like 8 or 9), and after a workout, I don’t eat breakfast until later, and my Greek yogurt bowls keep me full for a long time, which means I’m not hungry by the time lunch rolls around. So, mainly, I’ve been snacking on hummus and carrots, fruit, salami, and cheese in place of my lunches. Oh well. Still delicious!

Snacks

One of my (new) favorite snacks ever are these caramel corn rice cakes. Holy yum. And for only 50 calories each? Yes please!

I went shopping on Monday (by myself, which I actually love doing) and stopped by Panera to grab this Superfruit Power smoothie. Those smoothies are so delicious, and I don’t feel the least bit guilty trying them. They have Greek yogurt and lots of fruit in them, and I trust Panera to have good quality ingredients.

Finally, I created a homemade green tea lemonade (like the kind I get from Starbucks). I need to work on the recipe a bit more before I share it, but boy oh boy am I excited to!

Dinners

I asked my dad to buy a spaghetti squash for me for the week, so I cooked it up and made a sort of pasta dish out of it. I turned this particular plate into “Tofu Parmesan”…if you will.

I shaved fresh Parm on top of the tofu…oh man. There are few things better than melty cheese.

My friend’s wedding was catered by a local company, and they had a buffet of Italian food. I loaded up my plate with a whole wheat roll, carrots and broccoli, mashed potatoes, and chicken. Yum.

Desserts

Also at the wedding, instead of a cake (well, I think it was instead of one…I didn’t see a cake anyway) they had a frozen yogurt bar. Best. idea. ever.

I went with the frozen Greek yogurt, homemade chocolate ganache, and fresh raspberries. That yogurt was out of this world. It was so tangy that it was borderline sour, and I loved it. I would live in that bowl if I could. 😉

For another dessert this past week, I combined strawberry Chobani, a few white chocolate chips, and a crushed GF sugar cone and made it into this lovely mess.

In other news, I watched Perks of Being a Wallflower for the first time last night. Oh my gosh, is that a fantastic movie. I read the book a year ago and loved it, but I actually think I liked the movie more. (My inner English major is shocked with myself.) It was so emotional, and I thought the actors/screenwriters/producers/director (who was the author) perfectly captured the insecurities that not only were shown in the book, but in adolescence in general. I was also very glad to see that Emma Watson is a good enough actor to be able to break out of her Hermione role. 😉

I have a pretty busy week/weekend coming up, so please forgive me if I don’t post too often!

That’s about all I have for now – have a great day!

Questions for the day:

Have you ever changed your diet for better or worse?

Do you have any new found snack addictions?

And most importantly, frozen yogurt or ice cream?

————–

I just want to end this post by saying my thoughts and prayers are with the families in Oklahoma. I watched a bit of the news last night and I can’t even imagine the pain, anxiety, fright, and uncertainty those people are feeling. I don’t mean for it to sound like an afterthought by putting this at the end…in fact, just the opposite. I hate that tragedies have to happen, but they do serve as a reminder to me to really think and count any and all of my blessings.

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42 comments

That’s so strange that you actually felt worse! Did you just cut out the food that you eat that contains gluten, or did you try replacing some of the things you ate with gluten-free versions. I know that some gluten-free replacements actually bother me more than the gluten version. Like garbanzo bean flour which is in almost all gf. That just killed my stomach. And a lot of gf stuff is higher in fiber so that can also cause some more problems.

Glad that you figured out it wasn’t a problem for you! That must be a relief to not have to worry about gluten as well.

I loved Perks of Being a Wallflower! Such a good movie 🙂 Oh, and I was really worried that Emma Watson wasn’t going to be able to cut it, but I was pleased with her performance too.

The only replacement that I used was Bob’s Red Mill all purpose GF flour, but I only used that once. That’s interesting that replacements bothered you, and it’s definitely something to keep in mind.
Thanks, I really am relieved. I wish you had had the same result!

I’m glad you realized it wasn’t the diet for you. Too many people are using GF as a way to cut out carbs from their diet to lose weight and it isn’t the right answer. Our bodies NEED whole grains unless we’re allergic to them. I’m sorry it wasn’t the answer you were looking for but I think you still learned a valuable lesson from all of it!

I know what that chicken is from your friends wedding. It’s my favorite 🙂 Thanks for sharing this experiment with us. Everyone is truly different and I really try to tell the people I coach to listen to your body and see how you feel with foods you eat. Glad you are feeling better!

This makes perfect sense, actually: I’m a firm believer in the theory that everyone’s bodies — and, by extension, their dietary needs — are different. It’s great that you tried the GF experiment to see if it worked for you, but the most important part is that you listened to your body and were ok with recognizing when it wasn’t working for you. I’m glad you’re starting to feel better!

Eating food that’s good for your body sounds so much easier than it actually is! We are all so different and our bodies react differently to different things at different times and -whew!- it can be really tough to figure out. I hope you’re starting to feel better 🙂

You’re so right. I think being a blogger and following everyone elses’ eats makes it difficult sometimes to know what’s right for ourselves. But I’m glad I at least figured out GF isn’t for me! 🙂
Haha seriously! I thought that was such a great idea.

Your breakfast looks delicious. I love simple things like granola and yogurt. OMG PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER. So good. I just saw the movie recently and fell in love. I now want to go back and read the book!

That is a LOT of sneezing! You poor thing. I’m sorry the gluten thing didn’t seem to work 😦 I felt the same way when I went vegan. I thought it would help some bloating, etc but it actually made it worse (because I Was consuming insane amounts of vegetables!) Good luck, girl!

At the end of the day everyone is different so the most important thing you can do is listen to your body. Kudos to you for realizing it and also being willing to trying something new.
I love homemade granola too and was curious about the small seeds in yours…what are they? The fresh raspberries in your yogurt bowl look phenomenal too, but raspberries have always been my favorite. I hope you’re having a great weekend.

Exactly – couldn’t have said it better myself!
It’s quinoa! I’ve been adding it to granola recently for the crunch. It’s delicious!
They’re definitely my favorite fruit, too. I hope you’re having a good weekend, too!

I’m very happy that you decided to quit the GF lifestyle since you weren’t feeling so good. So many people are going through fads when it’s not really necessary and you chose to listen to your body! Excellent. I read that some people choose not to feed their babies gluten, but research shows that giving your baby small pieces of gluten after six month decreases the risk of an allergy!

You may be a sucker for crackers, but ohh, I can’t say no to granola! Okay, most gluten in general 😉 Mornings just call for toast! And sorry to hear GF didn’t solve any problems, but hey, it was definitely a worthy experiment and now you know!